-Hamlet-'s modern days vs -Romeo+Juliet-'s modern days

Romeo + Juliet was a great interpretation. I especially liked the word play with the guns.

Hamlet 2000 was crap. It was only made because Romeo + Juliet was so popular. They took way too much liberty with the script and the acting (except for Bill Murray and Leiv Shreiber) was hackneyed.

Stupid sexy Flanders

i think the problem was that this film was dry, dull and lacking in any real creativity. the romeo + juliet flick might have wandered from the original play, but it did so in such a way that seemed creative and very interesting.

i mean, changing the setting of a story is easy enough. tossing romeo +juliet into a twisted post modern setting was just brilliant. the firearms, (an automatic rifle with a tacky nameplate reading "LONGSWORD" attached to the wall of a limo, or a small handgun with the word "DAGGER" etched into its barrel and even down to the billboards advertising these weapons, reading something along the lines of 'shoot forth thunder.') its subtle things like this that made romeo + juliet seem like a clever new twist on the play.

but changing the setting alone doesnt work. you have to alter the mood of the story, change the pace of the events to fit the liking of the intended audience.

this film was a horrible disappointment for me. sure, the setting and the props were modified, but it just didn't work. it seemed to me as though a modern backdrop was slipped in and nothing more. and given the dullness of the modern corporate world, there was really nothing to keep my interest. of course, if i could manage to close my eyes for the entire film, i might be rewarded with an enjoyable audio version of the play.

my opinion, if you are going to alter a classic story, you've got to have a few new ideas to add to it. one or two interesting additions (other than the setting), and it might be a good film to watch. in the case of this film, i felt as though it had nothing new or interesting to add to the story, aside from the change of setting. and in my case, the change of setting somehow made this wonderful play seem boring.

then again, there are those that actually like this flick. and that is completely fine with me, after all, if we all had the exact same taste the world would be pretty dull.

I think the modern version of Hamlet works better, because it actually uses its modern setting. While Romeo+Juliet is a visual feast, nothing really changes because of its new setting. In Hamlet however, the director uses the modern world to enhance the play. Almereyda uses modern video technology to highlight the idea of voyeurism that permeates the play. The "to be or not to be" speech focuses on Hamlet's inaction, as he browses through the action in the video store. The poor soul cannot even pick a movie, instead taking home a large stack of videos. Most important about the scene though, are the video tapes themselves. Every video has the same Blockbuster cover, showing why Hamlet cannot make a choice: either path is equal in the end.

A couple of side notes:

I really do enjoy Romeo+Juliet, and Moulin Rouge is one of my favorite films.

I think Bill Murray might be my favorite Polonious ever. His unorthodox acting style in the movie is unsettling, obnoxious, and grating. In other words, he is everything Polonious should be. Even though I prefer Branagh's version to this, Murray's Polonious is leagues better than his counterpart in that version.

Everyone keeps praising the guns that read "sword" on them. I thought that was the only corny part of the film!

It really isn't so unbelieveable that people would be swinging swords. Yet both Hamlet and Romeo+Juliet refused to include them (Hamlet substituted actual fencing, with sport fencing).


In Japan, guns are totally illegal, and being an island and so introverted, and a hundred other reasons, there really aren't a lot of guns there. But there is organized crime and THE YAKUZA REALLY USE SWORDS. Japanese police don't even carry guns. They usually have batons, and due to the Japanese government's generally standoff attitude to the Yakuza, they usually don't crack down on them, but there are reported occasions where a Japanese cop is swinging a baton against a Yakuza gangster with a sword.